Shoe-fastening



W. ZAPIS.

SHOE FASTENING.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-3. 1920.

1,384,815. Patented July 19,1921.

'. thereto PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM Z ALPIS, OF HOPEWELL, NEW JERSEY.

SHOE-FASTENING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 19, 1921.

Application filed August 3, 1920. Serial No. 400,981.

To all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, WILLIAM ZAPIS, a subject of the King of Greece, residing at Hopewell, in the county of Mercer and State of New J ersey; have invented new and useful Improvements in vShoe-Fastenings, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in shoe fastenings, one of the principal objects of the invention being to provide a simple and inexpensive fastening which may be used in place of lacings or buttons, and which is more convenient to use, and is not subject to breakage as are laces, nor to loss of parts, as are buttons. A further ad vantage is that the uppers of the shoe are free from the usual eyelets.

In the drawings accompanying and forming part of this specification, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of my inven tion as applied to a low shoe, (although it is equally applicable to other types of shoe),

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a shoe having the improved fastening applied Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail view showing the fastening in the operative position;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view illustrating the manner of initially attaching the fastener to the shoe upper;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken approximately on the line 4.--4: of Fig.2 in the direction of the arrows, showing the fastener engaged with both sections of the shoe upper;

Fig. 5 is a detail view of the fastener; and

Fig. 6 is a detail view of a slightly modified and, in some respects preferred, form of fastener.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout all figures of the drawing.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the fastening consists of a plurality of hook receiving members 2 arranged in pairs along the adjacent edges of a shoe upper,

with a connecting member 3 for each pair, provided at the ends with means for engaging the members 2. The engaging means at one end are preferably such as to keep the connecting member in hinged attachment to the hook receiving member 2, while at the other end of the member 3 there are preferably formed hooks. Each member 3 preferably has a pair of hooks 8 for enbeing conveniently made of wire'with a portion 4 interconnecting the portions carrying the hooks.

As shown in Fig. 2, the edges of the shoe preferably have tongue portions 5 doubled back and stitched, forming loops adapted to receive the member 2, these members 2 being slightly longer than the loops formed by the tongue portions 5 so that the hook receiving loop portions 6 of the member 2 extend beyond the tongue portions into the space between adjacent tongue portions.

By referring to Fig. 3, it will be seen that when the member 3 of the fastener has been passed through the loops 6 at one side of the shoe upper, it is in effect hinged thereon, and can be grasped at the sides 7 thereof and the hooks on the free ends readily inserted into the loops ofthe opposite member 2 so that the shoes are quickly and securely fastened. The parts are simple and easy to operate, and there is no danger of parts being broken or torn off.

The hook receiving members and connecting members may be constructed of any suitable flexible material which can be readily bent or formed into shape, but which has sufficient resistance to retain its shape in use while these are preferably secured to the shoe upper by means of the tongues described so that the usual eyelets are rendered unnecessary, and the fastening is made without the parts thereof projecting inside the shoe with the usual consequent wear upon the stockings.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

A shoe fastening comprising hook receiving members having a longitudinal portion with loop portions at each end thereof, shoe uppers having along their adjacent edges spaced tongue portions doubled back and secured to the uppers forming loops to receive the longitudinal portions of said hook receiving members, the loop portions of said members projecting into the spaces between said tongue portions, and connecting members arranged to extend from the hook re ceiving members on one edge of the shoe to those on the other, said connecting members having hooks on at least one end.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

WILLIAM ZAP'IS. 

